| Join The Information at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, April 27, to hear from top executives and investors on how the rapid buildout of AI is reshaping tech, finance and capital markets. It's been more than a month since Nvidia entered an agreement, made public on Christmas Eve, to license the technology of chip startup Groq and hire its top executives including CEO Jonathan Ross. Now the terms of the deal are coming into focus. Groq told shareholders last month it expected to receive $17 billion in cash from Nvidia based on the licensing agreement, paid out in three installments by the end of this year. This month, Groq shareholders received $7.6 billion of that amount, according to an email the company sent to them. The payout, at $64 a share, is roughly twice what investors paid to buy shares in a $750 million September funding round led by Dallas-based firm Disruptive. That certainly is a good outcome for those investors, which include Blackrock and Neuberger Berman as well as smaller investors such as 1789 Capital, the firm that employs Donald Trump Jr. Groq's payout is roughly in line with what other startups have returned to shareholders following similar licensing deals, which have become popular forms of quasi-acquisitions that have allowed companies to largely avoid antitrust scrutiny. Investors in the last funding round for Character.AI were slated to get about 2.5 times the price they paid for their shares after Google agreed to a similar licensing deal. Microsoft was expected to pay a 1.1 times multiple to investors in Inflection AI's final round of funding as part of another such deal. Of course, earlier investors in Groq like Chamath Palihapitiya's Social Capital stand to make much bigger returns. Groq sold shares for as little as 97 cents each in its Series A round of funding led by Social Capital, according to the company's incorporation document. Stockholders in Groq, including employees with vested stock, can expect more payments. From the $17 billion in cash Nvidia is paying Groq, shareholders can expect to get about $10.3 billion in total proceeds, according to information Groq provided to stock owners last month. This initial $7.6 billion payout represents three-quarters of the Groq stock ownership. Shareholders will get the additional payments, of about $2.7 billion, when the company redeems the rest of the shares, though Groq hasn't yet told them when that will happen, said a person close to the company. Uncle Sam and Groq employees will get the rest. Groq will have to pay taxes on the licensing payments from Nvidia. U.S tax law treats licensing fees as ordinary corporate income, which is taxed at a 21% rate. Groq's home state of California takes another 8.8% on top of that. Groq has also paid out unexercised options held by employees, said the person close to the company, taking another chunk out of the Nvidia cash. It's unclear what other payments the deal's $20 billion headline figure could include. Nvidia did not respond to requests for comment. Groq has also told shareholders they can expect additional payouts from a sale or winding down of the company, and the board is considering all possible options. So far, a buyer hasn't emerged, but it's possible one of Nvidia's competitors would want to acquire Groq's intellectual property to prevent others from accessing it in the future. Stephanie Palazzolo contributed to this article. | 
0 comentários:
Postar um comentário